|
http://www.timesrecord.com/website/main.nsf/news.nsf/0/7DD331F7DADD857E052573C60059AB59?Opendocument
Local residents voice their concerns over war with Iran
Beth_Brogan@TimesRecord.Com
01/04/2008
HARPSWELL -- As political rhetoric about possible U.S. military action
in Iran heated up over the past few months, local residents took
action, hoping to influence Maine's congressional delegation to "act
courageously and publicly speak out" against such action.
In October, President Bush said at a White House briefing, "we've got
a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. So
I've told people that, if you're interested in avoiding World War III,
it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from
having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
Such political rhetoric and the potential consequences concern 84-year-
old Victor Skorapa, who stood at the Merriconeag Grange Hall for nine
hours on Nov. 6 to collect 104 signatures of Harpswell Neck residents
opposed to military action in Iran.
Last month, a National Intelligence Estimate concluded that Iran
stopped its nuclear weapon program in 2003. Although the report
indicated Iran could still build a nuclear bomb, it contradicted
statements made by the Bush administration that Iran intended to
acquire a nuclear weapon. On Dec. 6, the Washington Post reported that
Bush told Iran to "come clean" about its nuclear activities, and said
the new report would not change the U.S. policy.
A week later, Skorapa, a member of a group called PeaceWorks, stood
before the Harpswell Board of Selectmen with those signatures, hoping
to persuade them to contact members of Maine's congressional
delegation and ask them to do the same. The petition urged selectmen
to call on the congressional delegation to sponsor legislation to
"prohibit the use of funds to carry out any military action against
Iran without explicit congressional authorization" and to "ensure U.S.
relations with Iran are consistent with international law," and
"encourage talks without preconditions between the U.S. and Iran on
nuclear issues and ending the violence in Iraq."
Harpswell selectmen, Skorapa said, "indicated that while they
themselves were sympathetic to the idea, they didn't feel they could
represent the town unless they had the warrant behind them." Town
Administrator Kristi Eiane said selectmen are considering whether to
place the item on the March 8 Town Meeting warrant.
A spreading movement
In other towns around the Mid-coast region, PeaceWorks members took
copies of the petition -- bearing almost 1,300 signatures -- to other
selectmen and town and city councils urging similar action.
"We read about it on the Internet," PeaceWorks member Selma Sternlieb
of Brunswick said Friday. "Code Pink initiated the idea that we should
have the town councils or town meetings, governments or whatever pass
resolutions saying this town is opposed to an attack on Iran. I
thought that was a good idea."
In Freeport, Bob Lezer collected about 200 signatures opposing
military action in Iran, and about the same number opposing cluster
bombs. He sent those petitions to the four congressional delegates,
but heard back from none. What he hoped for, he said Wednesday, was
that they would take "a very strong stand" against military action in
Iran.
"Attacking Iran would be absolutely foolhardy and it simply doesn't
make sense, just as it didn't make sense to attack Iraq," Lezer said.
"It makes even less sense to go ahead and attack Iran. Even before the
(National Intelligence Estimate) came out. Now that the report's come
out, any even oblique reason is gone. ... If the administration
continues to say, 'We're not going to change our position. We're going
to continue on as before,' it sounds a little bit like before we went
into Iraq."
Hoping for a similar result in Bath, PeaceWorks members opted for a
different route, said Karen Wainberg. Instead of approaching the City
Council, members sent a letter and the petition, signed by about 330
members on Nov. 6, to Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, and
Congressmen Tom Allen and Michael Michaud.
"We, the residents of Bath, Maine, call for our congressional
delegation to act courageously and publicly speak out against any
military intervention in Iran," the petition read. "We ask them to
take every possible action to prevent an attack." An accompanying
letter, along with a copy of the leaflet on Iran handed out at the
polls, said, "We would like you to read the leaflet and then help us
understand why you are not expressing outrage over our present stance
toward Iran. Are you going to stand by while our country takes its
next step in its plans for endless war? We are heartsick and scared.
Aren't you?"
In Washington
"I'm already on board," Congressman Allen said by phone Thursday,
pointing to HJ Res 14, the "Walter-Jones" provision he co-sponsored
that would require congressional approval for use of military force
against Iran absent a national emergency or imminent attack. "I've
voted twice for the amendments to prohibit funding for preemptive
military action against Iran without specific authorization from
Congress."
Absent an attack on the US by Iran, Allen said, and "because we can't
trust the administration not to argue that somehow we've authorized
military force by something else we've passed," HJ Res 14 says that no
law enacted before the date of that joint resolution shall be
construed to authorize military force against Iran. "Iran is not 25
million people like Iraq. Iran is 60 million people, with a much
stronger economy and a much more effective military. This is just not
a viable option. Whatever shreds of support we have left in the
Islamic world would be gone with a military strike."
Jen Burita, Collins' communications director, responded to calls to
Collins' office by e-mail, writing to The Times Record that Collins
responded to each petitioner whose name was legible. Collins, Burita
wrote, "believes that the threat Iran poses to its neighbors and the
world is best addressed by aggressive diplomatic action. Iran's
continued efforts to enrich uranium, despite the international
community's explicit disapproval, further threaten the unstable Middle
East. Iranian leaders' attitudes towards Iraq, where Iranian
explosives have been used repeatedly in attacks, and towards Israel,
also continue to contribute to the volatility of the region."
In an e-mailed statement from Snowe's communications director, the
senator wrote that she understands and shares the concerns of those
who oppose military action in Iran.
"I had not supported military action even as the administration was
operating under the pre-NIE assumptions that Iran was pursuing a
nuclear weapons program -- rather, diplomacy and economic sanctions
have rightly been our policy," Snowe said. "It is therefore
appropriate that the U.S. continue to engage in a multilateral
approach to convincing Iran to also suspend its uranium enrichment
program through the UN Security Council."
Yet for Wainberg, opposing military intervention is not enough. She
hopes members of Congress will take a vocal stand opposing the use of
force in Iran.
"We would expect them all to be speaking out against any military
intervention," she said. "Yes, it's an important thing the president
not take any military intervention before having congressional
(approval), but that's another issue. We just think they should be out
there saying, 'No.'"
Whether town councils or boards of selectmen draft resolutions to urge
the Maine delegation to take a stand, Wainberg said the petitions were
an important education tool to urge people to think about the
repercussions of any U.S. action in Iran.
"It gets people thinking and, you know, you never know, maybe there is
a town that will consider it," she said. "If one town considers it and
passes it, maybe another town will. The peace and justice community
all through Maine is constantly working on new events, programs or
actions to try to move our delegation to take a stand on these crucial
issues of war and peace."
"If Iran got involved in the war, it would be just a horrendous mess
and we'd never get out of it," Skorapa said. "We've already spent $600
billion and there's no end to the spending in Iraq. Enough people have
been killed in this war."
==================
HOOROO
.
|
